Course Information

18-451: Networked Cyber-Physical Systems

Units:

12

Description:

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) represent a new class of systems that bring together sensing, computation, communication, control and actuation to enable continuous interactions with physical processes. This integration of networked devices, people, and physical systems provides huge opportunities and countless applications in biology and healthcare, automotive and transportation, power grids and smart buildings, social and financial markets, etc. Hence, CPS need to provide real-time efficiency, adaptability, optimality, security and robustness to natural disasters or targeted attacks. While the focus on embedded systems relies on building computational models for specific applications, CPS need a multidisciplinary approach and a more general computational paradigm such that more-direct interactions between the system and physical world become possible.
This course is primarily an in-depth introduction to networked CPS with an emphasis on methods for modeling, design, and optimization. Focus is on the dominant design paradigms like low-power and communication-centric design. Topics to be covered include: physical processes, models of concurrency, sensing and workload modeling, human behavior modeling, data-driven modeling, networking at micro- and macro-scale, system-wide resources management, programming, validation and integration. From a practical standpoint, students will directly experiment with hardware prototypes and software tools to explore concrete CPS examples.
By structure and contents, this class is primarily targeted to ECE students; it can also provide a valuable basis for interdisciplinary research to students in CS and related disciplines.

Prerequisites:18-349 OR (18-213 AND 18-240) OR equivalent background material with permission of the instructor.